Can WWE Creative rebuild the women’s division around the Nikki A.S.H character?

The women’s division in WWE has gone through a lot of changes in recent years. After a surge in popularity with the rise of Becky Lynch, which culminated in a record-breaking main event featuring herself, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 35, the division has been on what can be considered a rollercoaster ride of sorts as of late.

The women’s division has certainly attained quite a bit more popularity and a following since the days of the Diva’s Championship and it’s because of the rise of stars like the aforementioned Lynch, as well as others, that the division has attained such steam in recent years.

Of course, the division is chock full of incredible athletes, starting with the women’s portion of the roster at NXT.

Is Nikki A.S.H. the wrestler to build WWE’s women’s division around?

But to say that the division has suffered a little bit of a down period—especially on Raw—would be an understatement, but one we can’t help making. The women’s matches on Raw are extremely repetitive, or rather have been before the reemergence of Nikki Cross, now A.S.H. in her new capacity as Almost A Superhero…the gimmick paying homage to the legendary Molly Holly and her incarnation as Mighty Molly.

It was at this time that Molly’s career took off with the fans and she built an incredible following after that point, which we have seen again now with Nikki. Mighty Molly, as a gimmick, didn’t last all that long (2001-2002), but it surely left a mark, and one that didn’t go unnoticed by the likes of Nikki A.S.H.

A void has certainly been felt on Raw with the absence of Becky Lynch. That void has been filled as best as possible with Asuka, and if I can liken it and compare her absence in the division to any other era, it would be as in late 1999 (Survivor Series) when Steve Austin took time off to surgically repair his neck — an injury he had sustained at SummerSlam in 1997 in a match against Owen Hart. Triple H and The Rock stood out and got over with the audience big time during Austin’s absence, yet they still didn’t quite get the pops and garner as much excitement from the WWE audience as good old Stone Cold did just yet.

Dare we say that was the case after Lynch’s absence? Why not? But just who can stand out and perhaps get as far as Becky did? Could it be Nikki A.S.H.?

SmackDown is another story. Bianca Belair still has her title, and the only problem there is, have there been enough challengers for the title? No. Are there enough on that roster that could fit the bill?

A definitive move would be to call up more talent from NXT. I mean you have Ember Moon just sitting there, and although she’s contributing to the NXT roster in a massive way, how amazing would Bianca vs. Ember be?

They did move up Shotzi, Tegan Nox, and now Toni Storm, who had a successful premiere on the show this past week, but I don’t see them going for the SmackDown Women’s championship any time soon…

And seeing that we are juxtaposing Nikki A.S.H. and Molly Holly, as was kind of alluded to on last week’s episode of WWE’s The Bump, we can say that they are very similar and perhaps it was just what the WWE division needed.

Charlotte is still the queen and is doing a great job of being that intense heel that will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Unfortunately, Rhea Ripley fell short with her title reign, and it’s probably safe to assume that she isn’t done with the Raw Women’s title at all, but it has to be said that her performance on Raw thus far has paled in comparison to her run on NXT.

Which brings me to the next point: why are these epic talents that come to NXT so seemingly stifled on the main roster?

Is it possible that the only time allotted to Shotzi and Nox was to be seen fiddling with the tank they ride out on? Really? When they each have given the NXT audience so much to be in awe about?!

Instead, we get Natalya and Tamina that, sad to say, are getting a little slow in the ring and predictable.

So, yeah, Nikki A.S.H. is certainly a breath of fresh air right now, and if you ask me, her win and subsequent reign couldn’t have come at a better time. She brings a level of comedy and brightness missing from the women’s roster on Raw. We hope that her reign lasts a long time and garners quite a bit of excitement for a division that needs help to get back to where it once was.

Perhaps even a returning Becky Lynch could whip up the division, but that’s s story for another time. For now, let’s see if Nikki can do quite a wee bit of soaring on her own.